OLDaily

By Stephen Downes
March 16, 2005

A Learning BlogosphereDiscussion in two parts. Part
1 follows up on a project to build a distributed
learning blogging community in a class last fall, including
an interesting series of attempts to actually follow the
conversation. Part
2 looks at the long tail phenomenon in class blog posts
and looks at ways of improving the balance of
participation. "I had to participate but also wanted to
keep my role to a minimum so that the conversation remained
more student driven," the author writes. By Bud Gibson, The
Community Engine, March 1, March 10, 2005
[Refer][Research][Reflect]

Emerging Perceptions"Those who
wish to put serious content on their blogs," writes David
Miller, "must trust that it will be recognized as such."
And those who wish to see meaningful content in blogs can
do little more than to subscribe to it. "There is little we
can do to encourage bloggers to post meaningful content
because it is their own content. That is the beauty of
blogs. We control only what we subscribe to." But what
should be added, too, is that this -- rather than any
content control mechanism -- is how we recognize and reward
what should be considered 'academic' content and what,
well, shouldn't. Nathan Lowell
and Roy
Jenkins on the same subject. By David Miller, Emerging
Perceptions, March 16, 2005
[Refer][Research][Reflect]

Achieving Success in Internet-Supported
Learning in Higher EducationThe findings of
this report may appear obvious, but count the number of
institutions that do not meet these criteria for success
and you have a good account of the widely reported
'failure' of online learning. What are the lessons? That
successful online institutions have a motivation to offer
learning online, either as part of their mission or as a
strategy for survival, that they adopt a programmatic
approach with a commitment to fully online programs, that
they measure quality rather than quantity, that they adopt
successful technologies that are constantly being improved,
and that they go beyond technological issues and look at
service generally. That's not so hard, is it? Via EdTechPost.
By Rob Abel, Alliance for Higher Education Competitiveness,
February 2005
[Refer][Research][Reflect]

Take It Easy. You're Making us Look
BadThe caution to 'walk before you can run'
is usually uttered by those who can't, or won't, run. "'We'
don't run because those who can grant permission--encourage
the running--prefer to walk. Walking is a higher percentage
endeavor in their eyes. A lower exertion one, too. Running
is not their ambition, exposure makes them anxious.
Horizons make them squint." Interesting observations from
∞Fouroboros,
via McGee's
Musings. By Fouro, ∞Fouroboros, March 10, 2005
[Refer][Research][Reflect]

Free Public Access To Your Own Cultural
WealthRobin Good asks, "If we pay our state
to create public works like art, music, architecture,
research, is it right that these creations are then
exploited for commercial uses by a restricted few?" And the
answer, of course, is "no" even though a large amount of
the work created through the public purse benefits
commercial interests in precisely that way. By Luigi Canali
De Rossi, Robin Good, March 16, 2005
[Refer][Research][Reflect]